Temporal dynamics of music and language

The temporal dynamics of music and language describes how the brain coordinates its different regions to process musical and vocal sounds. Both music and language feature rhythmic and melodic structure. Both employ a finite set of basic elements (such as tones or words) that are combined in ordered ways to create complete musical or lingual ideas.

Key areas of the brain are used in both music processing and language processing, such as Brocas area that is devoted to language production and comprehension. Patients with lesions, or damage, in the Brocas area often exhibit poor grammar, slow speech production and poor sentence comprehension. The inferior frontal gyrus, is a gyrus of the frontal lobe that is involved in timing events and reading comprehension, particularly for the comprehension of verbs. The Wernickes area is located on the posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus and is important for understanding vocabulary and written language.

The primary auditory cortex is located on the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex. This region is important in music processing and plays an important role in determining the pitch and volume of a sound. Brain damage to this region often results in a loss of the ability to hear any sounds at all. The frontal cortex has been found to be involved in processing melodies and harmonies of music. For example, when a patient is asked to tap out a beat or try to reproduce a tone, this region is very active on fMRI and PET scans. The cerebellum is the "mini" brain at the rear of the skull. Similar to the frontal cortex, brain imaging studies suggest that the cerebellum is involved in processing melodies and determining tempos. The medial prefrontal cortex along with the primary auditory cortex has also been implicated in tonality, or determining pitch and volume.

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